Sk8r Boi
by splintered
Summary: Roxas wasn't your typical skater boy. No, Roxas was a figure-skater. Join us as we follow a "skater boy" and his first encounter with love. Eventual SoRoku.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Owns neither characters nor song _Sk8er Boi_ by Avril Lavigne.

**Warnings:** Old School Avril Lavigne, Gender Bender, SoRoku

* * *

**Sk8er Boi**

By: Splintered

"_He was a boy, she was a girl  
Can I make it anymore obvious?"_

--_Sk8er Boy_ by Avril Lavigne

"It's complicated."

--Roxas Strife

* * *

Before you begin, just know that this isn't your typical love story. This isn't about a boy and a girl. This isn't about a punk and a girl who did ballet. This isn't about rockin' on MTV in baggy clothes or singing with your acoustic guitar. No, this is a story about none of those things. But this _is _a story about a skater boy and his encounter with love.

For starters, Roxas Strife wasn't your typical skater boy. Sure, Roxas had the build of a typical skater boy—thin and lanky with stick-chicken arms and legs. But the fact of the matter is that Roxas did not skateboard (although Roxas supposed that he could skateboard if he tried).

Rather than skate up and down the ramps at the skate park in loose graphic tees and baggy pants that hung below the waist with the rest of the punks, Roxas wore tight fitted outfits—things like spandex and suits that showed off his scrawny frame. Rather than spike his smooth blond hair or hide the silk-like tendrils under a backwards baseball cap, Roxas kept his hair either gelled back or long and feathery around his dreamy ocean-colored eyes. Rather than spend lazy afternoons in the streets hanging around the Usual Spot or buying Sea Salt Ice Cream from the local corner store like he seen other kids his age do, Roxas spent hours upon hours at the ice rink perfecting his technique and practicing his jumps and kicks and spins and turns.

No, Roxas wasn't your typical skater boy. He was a figure skater. And well frankly, on days like this when he saw the rest of the punks running around town with no worries in the world, it sucked.

It wasn't like Roxas didn't like figure-skating or anything. It's just that it took up so much time. Every day, the blond would wake up very early in the morning, eat breakfast, go to school and then skating practice. He would do whatever homework he had when he got home from practice very late at night and he would always be exhausted the next day.

And then there were the competitions on weekends—which both terrified and excited him at the same time. He and his dad Cloud would load up the '95 Impala and drive to wherever the competition may be. Roxas would go through this nerve-racking heart-throbbing experience of competing and then there was the wait for the results. And when he and his instructor went over the judges' comments, it was back to the skating rink for more training and practice. In short, his life basically revolved around figure skating. If he wasn't on the ice, he would spend whatever time he had for schoolwork or to grab a light snack.

Yet while his life did, indeed, revolved around figure-skating and he loved being on the ice, Roxas did not publicize it at school. While to Roxas, figure-skating defined who he was, he didn't dare tell anyone. Because, well, if anyone were to ever find out that he did figure-skate, he might be perceived than less masculine than he already was. He might be labeled a queer and well frankly, Roxas was deathly afraid of this happening again (although that statement may have some truth to it).

Roxas remembered what it was like to have someone's arms tightly wrapped around his neck in a chokehold. He remembered what it was like to be kicked again and again in the ribs. He remembered what it was like to taste blood on his lips when Seifer Almasy's knuckles collided with his face. He remembered Cloud's concern when he woke up at the hospital after three days. Roxas remembered the name-calling, pranks and eventually switching schools. Most of all, Roxas remembered what it was like to be labeled a queer.

So when Sora Leonheart, the most popular boy at Destiny High, began talking to him out of the blue, Roxas didn't dare tell him that he was a figure-skater.

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Author's Notes: Thanks for reading. I know I haven't written here for a while, but nonetheless, I would love to hear from you and would really appreciate it if you leave a review. All questions and comments are welcome. And lastly, Happy New Year. =)


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Owns neither characters nor song _Sk8er Boi_ by Avril Lavigne.

**Warnings:** Old School Avril Lavigne, Gender Bender, SoRoku

* * *

**Sk8er Boi**

By: Splintered

* * *

Sora Leonhart was a collector and he liked collecting pretty things. A lot.

When he was little, he used to collect seashells and sea glass from the beach. Ma would yell at him for dragging all the sand into the house. "Why did you bring home all this junk?" she would ask.

"It's pretty!" Sora would reply. "Look, Ma," he would say, holding his treasures to the light. "See how they sparkle."

His mother would reluctantly nod, letting Sora keep his treasures only if he promised to take good care of the broken glass and leave them in a jar, and not all over the floor.

When he was nine, he brought home a beautiful little bird that broke its wing and couldn't fly. While the bird looked a little small and sickly, Sora said the bird was simply beautiful, and wanted to keep it as a pet.

"No."

That was his mother's initial reaction. But because Sora was stubborn and persistent, Ma eventually let him keep the bird and nurse the creature back to health, but only until it was well enough to fly away. Even Ma had to admit, the bird sang such a sad and beautiful little ditty.

When he was fourteen, Sora started bringing home girls, like Kairi and Namine and Selphie. The girls, although prepubescent, were pretty with their warm heart-shaped faces and light tinkering laughter. They looked so much like little China dolls — delicate and fragile — that it was unnerving.

While the girls were pleasant to be around, Ma disliked how fast Sora would go from girl to girl. Even more so, she disliked the competitive nature of the game, as she overhead her son and his best friend Riku talk about how many girls they had gone out with, each trying to best the other. They would collect girls' numbers in their cell phones like trophies, to never to call them back.

"Don't you think it's a bit immature?" Ma would try to lecture her son. "They have feelings, you know, and you're hurting them by leading them on."

"Nah," Sora had shrugged. "Me and Riku think it's pretty cool," her son gave her a cheeky grin. "Besides, how is collecting stories and phone numbers much different from collecting rocks to fill a jar?"

"Sora, girls have feelings whereas rocks don't."

"It doesn't matter. I own them and I can do whatever I want with them," he pouted childishly.

Yes, her son Sora liked collecting pretty things, but the idiot was a tad bit insensitive and possessive.

So Sora's mother was overjoyed when Sora stopped trying to see how many_ girls_ would let him get into their pants; however, to her horror, Sora hadn't stopped trying to collect pretty faces. She hoped that this time around, her son didn't bring back a healthy bird and break it in order to keep him.

oOo

"_He wanted her, she'd never tell  
Secretly she wanted him as well"  
_-_Sk8er Boy_ by Avril Lavigne

oOo

However, Sora Leonhart, still an idiot at seventeen, had very different ideas in mind. He had his eyes on a new target, a new trophy.

"HEY ROXAS!"

"Hmmm," Roxas answered. His never-ending ocean-blue eyes glanced around the crowded hallway looking for whoever called his name, hoping — just hoping — that it wasn't someone who was angry with him. His eyes eventually landed on a brunette with a Cheshire grin on his face.

"Hi, Roxas," the boy with the hungry grin said, laughing at the blond's confused look. The brunette was starting to creep him out. People at Destiny High usually didn't talk to Roxas, much less notice him. After all, at Destiny High, Roxas was a nobody. This boy, however, didn't seem to get the memo, continuing to babble to Roxas. "I'm Sora Leonhart," the brunette proudly announced.

"I know who you are," Roxas answered, trying to maintain some of his previous dignity and composure. While he didn't recognize the face, he recognized the name as someone to watch out for. Roxas was just praying that this Sora Leonhart wasn't anything like Seifer Almasy. If that hungry look was anything to go by, though, then Sora and Seifer probably had a great deal in common. Hopefully Roxas wouldn't have to transfer schools this time around. It would cause Cloud a great hassle, and Roxas didn't want to be more of a burden than he already was.

"Sure you do," Sora laughed easily. "I bet you have no idea who I am, and what I'm capable of," the brunette continued.

Was that a threat? What did this kid want from him? While Roxas wasn't exactly happy going through Destiny High unnoticed, he wasn't exactly unhappy with the situation either. The less noticed he was, even though he was the new transfer student, the less of a target he was for bullies, like, perhaps this Sora person.

"Well, let me enlighten you," the brunette continued, pretty content with listening to himself talk. "What do you say to you and me going to Club Twilight Friday night?"

"No."

_No?_ Sora thought incredulously. Only his mother said "no" to him, and most of the time, she couldn't resist his charming face and they came to a compromise.

"I said, 'no,'" the boy repeated when Sora didn't answer.

"Well, why not?" the brunette finally sputtered.

"You were right. I don't know anything about you, so why should I give you any time of day?"

"Ah," Sora exclaimed, suddenly enlightened by the situation. "But I wouldn't be asking for your day. I'm asking for your night. And baby, you would get to know me soon enough."

"The answer's still, 'no,'" the beautiful blond said, briskly walking away.

"Rox-sass, I think you secretly want me," Sora shouted after him, his voice ricocheting down the hallway.

_Really? _Roxas thought with disgust, just thinking about the smug bastard together with him. It gave him shivers.

oOo

"_All of her friends stuck up their nose  
They had a problem with his baggy clothes"_

-_Sk8er Boy_ by Avril Lavigne

oOo

"Yo, Sor," someone tapped the brunette playfully on the shoulder. "Was that you just being rejected just now?" It was Riku, at his best friend's side after hearing his best friend's shouts down the hallway.

"Nah," Sora grinned cheerfully. "He totally wanted me."

"I don't think he did," Riku replied solemnly. "He might not even be gay."

"That can't be true. Look at the figure, and that hair, and those eyes," Sora said, pulling a Polaroid picture from his pocket. It was a picture of Roxas, clad in a black, tight-fitting, leather black leotard, doing pirouettes on the ice rink.

"Touché."

oOo

"_He was a skater boy, she said see you later boy  
He wasn't good enough for her  
She had a pretty face, but her head was up in space  
She needed to come back down to earth"_

-_Sk8er Boy_ by Avril Lavigne

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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Owns neither characters nor song and lyrics _Sk8er Boi_ by Avril Lavigne.

**Warnings:** Old School Avril Lavigne, Gender Bender, SoRoku

* * *

**Sk8er Boi**

By: Splintered

It was a Tuesday, which was soon becoming Roxas's least favorite day of the week. Monday was the beginning of the week, so at least you knew it was going to horrible. (especially if you had to wake up at five o'clock every morning. Was that even a humane time to get up at 5 a.m.? Half the time it was still dark out!)

With Wednesdays, at least you could convince yourself that the week was half over and you just had a few more days to get through. Saturdays and Sundays were usually devoted to skating competitions — or if there wasn't a competition that weekend, then longer skating sessions on the ice with his coach, this classy bloke who called himself Zexion that Roxas had known since he was a little kid learning how to skate. And as long as Zexion didn't bring his boyfriend Marluxia — this girly guy with pink hair, these practices usually went okay.

For Roxas, whose days were strictly scheduled (if not by figure skating, then by his father Cloud, who was always precise on where he wanted his boy to be down to the very minute), Tuesday just became a placeholder in the middle of the week. It was a day that didn't have any meaning. After all, the blond-haired, blue-eyed figure skater would do the same thing every day anyway: school, practice, homework, bed — and Tuesdays were just lost along the shuffle of his routine.

But Tuesdays became a little more daunting when Zexion cancelled their sessions after school because his boyfriend Marluxia claimed the figure-skating instructor didn't spend enough time with him and Sora Leonhart began stalking him everywhere in Destiny High, pestering him about his proposal — which Roxas had already refused multiple times the day before.

"No Leonhart, I will not go with you to Club Twilight Friday night," Roxas repeated stiffly once finding the other boy leaning against his locker once again. Why wouldn't Leonhart stop bothering him? Hell, why was Leonhart even bothering him in the first place?

"Hah, told you that that boy was a prude," a tall silverette named Riku chuckled, standing behind the persistent brunette.

"Please, Roxas," the brunette said, grinning so wide that he revealed a set of perfectly straight pearly white teeth. "I promise I don't bite."

Roxas could swear that the boy's grin was so big that it could swallow him whole. So Roxas tried again, hoping he didn't get chewed up in the process. "I don't know what you're trying to pull," he said sternly, "but I am not interested, so you can ask someone else to your little Sadie Hawkins dance."

"Aw, Roxy, are you implying that I'm a girl," Sora retorted while Riku snickered by his friend's side. "Cause I can assure you, you look a lot more feminine than me."

Sora's voice had the 'I-know-what-you-did-last-night-and-if-you-don't-go-out-with-me-bad-things-will-happen-to-you' quality — a quality that Seifer had also possessed, but still Roxas did not relent. Was he intimidated? Sure. But was he going to conform to every bully who asked him out on a date? Not a chance.

"No."

"Are you implying I'm not a girl or that you're not one, 'cuz I'm not quite sure what you have going on downstairs if you know what I mean," Sora smiled with that feral grin of his. "And I'm pretty sure I know the plumbing in my basement."

Roxas could feel his cheeks burn in embarrassment. Curse Cloud and his pasty pale genetics! Oh, how he wished Tuesday would end.

* * *

"_He was a boy, she was a girl  
Can I make it anymore obvious?"_

-_Sk8er Boy_ by Avril Lavigne

* * *

Sora really was an idiot sometimes, Riku thought. Sure, the kid was his best friend — and the very best a boy could have — but an idiot nonetheless. Really, did Sora have to choose Roxas Strife as his next victim? Sora was a punk and Roxas did ballet or figure skating, for god's sake! What more could you say to that?

Riku couldn't think of a time where Sora tried so hard though and the boy was radiating horniness from his constant rejections and failed efforts.

"Seriously, this is probably the longest you've not had sex," Riku laughed as his friend pouted, staring longingly at the blond who ducked in the boy's bathroom (probably to lock himself in a stall and avoid Sora no less).

It seemed ages since Sora asked the other boy out to Club Twilight, the hippest teen hangout in town. And not only did Roxas refuse to go that Friday, but Roxas had also evaded the Friday after and the Friday after that. The boy had rejected Sora's advances for almost a month, and Sora hadn't been any less persistent!

Now normally, chicks and blokes jumped at the chance to date Sora Leonhart. He was the stud of Destiny High, after all, and one of the stars on the school's blitzball team. Well, after Riku, of course. But as reluctantly as Riku would admit, he probably didn't leave as long trail of broken hearts as his buddy did.

Sora was something else. Ever since he and Riku started their competition of who could date and ditch the most people, Sora had been on a mean playboy streak. But Riku also knew his friend very well, and when Sora set his eyes on something, he doesn't give up until he gets what he wants.

Did Sora have a chance with Roxas? Probably not. But was Sora going to stop trying? Definitely not.

Riku almost pitied Roxas, knowing how ruthless his best friend could be.

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**Review?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Owns neither characters nor song _Sk8er Boi_ by Avril Lavigne.

**Warnings:** Old School Avril Lavigne, Gender Bender, SoRoku

* * *

**Sk8er Boi**

By: Splintered

* * *

"_He wanted her, she'd never tell  
Secretly she wanted him as well."_

-_Sk8er Boy_ by Avril Lavigne

* * *

It was all Sora Leonhart's fault, Roxas thought. It was that stupid brunette's fault that his reign of anonymity at Destiny High was over. Ever since Leonhart started trailing him a month ago, other people had started noticing him and growing more and more forward as well.

"Hey, it's that Roxas kid that Sora likes!" someone exclaimed as Roxas tried to make his way to the cafeteria for his lunch break.

For Christ's sake, he couldn't even get to lunch without being noticed by someone anymore!

"Hm, I wonder if he'll go out with me if he won't go for Sora?"

"Really, Tidus, if this Roxas kid won't go out with Sora, then you have absolutely no chance! I mean, Sora's gorgeous and you're … "

Oh, how Roxas wished he didn't hear his name whispered or shouted or spoken everywhere he went. Maybe this is how Sora felt like too as the most popular boy in Destiny High? Perhaps Sora was also a secret recluse?

Nah, that brunette bastard probably enjoyed the attention too much! Roxas remembered how smug Leonhart was the last time he tried asking him out. Leonhart had promised to show him how to skateboard and play blitzball in the park. Knowing Roxas, the blond would probably fall flat on his face with both endeavors. Although Roxas was graceful on the ice, he was a klutz most of the time — a trait that puzzled his father Cloud greatly.

"How can you be clumsy and still be a figure-skater?" Cloud had asked incredulously. "Isn't that an oxymoron?"

"I don't know, Dad," Roxas had replied. "Not everyone is as cool as you."

And it was true. No one could match Cloud's cool-nothing-can-bother-me exterior. Roxas would have been sure Cloud was heartless if he wasn't Strife's son and seen his old man's affection and worry for him firsthand. Roxas could never forget how terrified Cloud was after he woke up from Seifer's beating. He had never seen his father look more vulnerable. And Roxas swore that Cloud would never feel like that again — not if he could help it.

But from the looks of the rest of Destiny High, they didn't share Roxas's convictions, especially as they chased after him squealing his name.

"I heard that he was the only one that ever turned Sora down!"

Yep, the student population of Destiny High would surely maim him if they kept this up — Roxas thought as he ducked into his favorite hiding spot within the boy's bathroom and locked himself in the handicap stall — especially now that Sora wasn't the only one who chased after him.

* * *

"_Now he's a superstar, slamming on his guitar  
Does your pretty face see what he's worth?"  
_-_ Sk8er Boy_ by Avril Lavigne

* * *

"Riku, why doesn't Roxy like meeeee?" Sora sniffed, watching the blond's head disappear into the boy's bathroom once again.

"Well, maybe if you didn't call him, Roxy… He's a guy after all," Riku replied.

"No, I tried calling him Roxas," Sora declared, "but he ignored me and I like how he blushes when I call him Roxy. It's cute. Roxy is cute and pretty. Why is Roxy so cute and pretty and why doesn't like me? Everyone likes me, Rikuuuuuuuuu!" Sora continued to whine.

Riku sighed, knowing Sora's love for pretty faces. And also knowing that Sora never dealt with much rejection before Roxas came along. And the idiot's solution to his constant rejections: to smile and get wasted on school property, no less. There certainly were perks to being king of Destiny High.

But for Riku, there were downfalls to being the king of Destiny High's best friend. Just telling you from experience, Sora was a whiny drunk. And a sloppy drunk. And overall, more annoying and aggressive and pessimistic than his usual arrogant self-assured self.

"Roxy is mine, Rikuuuuu! He's mine and I don't like how everyone else is looking at him and touching him and asking him out! Don't they see that he's mine!"

Possessive much? Riku sighed again, adopting the role a good best friend should. "Well, what are you going to do about it, Sor? He's alone in the boy's bathroom locked in the handicapped stall."

Sora grinned like a cat that just swallowed a canary. "I'm going to make sure he stays in the bathroom a whole lot longer," he declared.

Riku just hoped Roxas Strife was prepared for the monster he had just released in his best friend.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Owns neither characters nor song _Sk8er Boi_ by Avril Lavigne.

**Warnings:** Old School Avril Lavigne, Gender Bender, SoRoku, Heavy Themes

* * *

**Sk8er Boi**

By: Splintered

* * *

Sure enough, Roxas had locked himself in the handicap stall in the boy's bathroom — which had become a regular occurrence that had just started affecting other aspects of his life. Calm and patient Coach Zexion had yelled at him yesterday at practice! Roxas had never heard the Coach raise his voice much less yell, and yesterday Zexion had done both when Roxas got dizzy doing his jumps.

"Don't you care about your health?" Zexion had shouted to Roxas's amazement. He didn't know his coach cared so much. "You know you're supposed to eat before coming into practice!"

Zexion didn't call the blond out on the fact that he was already skinny at a twig — which was also the reason Zexion had been so hesitant on pairing the boy up to compete in doubles. Zexion knew that as of now, Roxas didn't have the strength to complete the lifts required of him in a girl/guy partnership on the ice rink. Roxas wasn't the most masculine male as it was, and despite all the blond's acquired leg strength from years and years of doing jumps and spins and skating on the ice, unfortunately, Roxas's arm strength wasn't up to par. And Roxas would need to build his upper body strength before he could move up to the next level.

And the worst thing a skater could do to his body was not eat and maintain it! After all, skating was very taxing and Zexion had given Roxas the warning multiple times. But it wasn't Roxas's fault that he didn't have time to eat! Especially since hiding from the rest of the student population while in school became one of his main priorities.

Roxas was just debating whether or not he could risk coming out of the stall and climbing out the window to grab something for lunch (he was really hungry and he hadn't eaten since breakfast) when he heard the bane of his existence come in.

"Roooxxxy," the brunette sang. "I know you're in here."

Crap, Roxas thought, feeling very dizzy suddenly. He almost collapsed in the toilet seat — only his splayed fingers kept him from falling in.

"Hey Roxy, come out and play with meeeeee."

Zexion was right, of course. Skipping meals was probably the worst thing he could do. Why was he so stupid?

"Roxy, Roxy, Roooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxy! Come out for me, baby!"

Shit. The words triggered it.

The blond started hyperventilating as he tried to reign in his emotions. It must have been months ago, but it felt almost like yesterday — the way the memories were resurfacing, and suffocating him. The chokehold. The punch in the face. The hard relentless kicks to his side. And worst of all, that mad gleeful grin that taunted him when his attacker pulled down his trousers and whispered, "Come for me, baby." The breath was hot and lingered in his ears while the rest of his body had gone numb from the pain and the heavier, bigger body that laid on top of him, plummeting in and out, buried inside him. It was because he was a queer, Seifer had said. He had deserved this. Roxas couldn't breathe.

"Hey Roxy, are you alright?"

He must have been crying, Roxas realized, not even recognizing his own wrenching sobs. They sounded more like a pitiful animal's cries than anything that could have came from him. But still, judging from how he was cheeks were wet and how his body was shivering like a leaf, he was probably the one making those god-awful noises. Oh, how he tried to forget. Oh, how he had forgotten. And now….

"Roxas, open the door this instant or else I'll break it down!"

Oh god, he had woken up three days after the assault, but it had taken months for him to heal and for Cloud, Zexion and figure-skating to piece him back together again. God, skating was his life. He couldn't give it up. And if it labeled him a queer, then so be it. It wasn't like Roxas had any experiences with girls that could prove the statement wrong. Just…. "Please," he gasped. "Don't put me through that again."

"Roxas!"

He could hear the tinny sound of the lock being picked and just as sudden, the swinging stall door wasn't there to offer protection from his attacker.

"Rox—"

"Please," he sobbed brokenly, aware that his lithe, petite body was draped against the cold hard tiles, leaning heavily on the toilet seat. "I'll do anything. Please, don't r-r-r-rape me."

* * *

**Review? **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** Owns neither characters nor song _Sk8er Boi_ by Avril Lavigne.

**Warnings:** Old School Avril Lavigne, Gender Bender, SoRoku

* * *

**Sk8er Boi**

By: Splintered

* * *

Sora was horrified. If there was anything that could sober him up quickly, it was the r-word. (But those sobs would have been a close second in dousing his libido) Really? Was he really going to do that? Sora didn't know what his intentions were when he declared he was going to make sure Roxas was going to stay in the bathroom a whole lot longer.

Sure, Sora succeeded in his plan, and if he and Riku bet on it before the brunette strolled into the boy's bathroom, he would have collected his winnings fair and square from the tall silverette, but still... seeing the blond like that didn't satisfy the brunette at all. When had this stopped being a game?

Seeing the blond crying brokenly on the floor reminded him of a memory from almost a decade ago. Sora must have been nine at the time — a time when things were much simpler and he and Riku's biggest competitions were racing to their tree house and back.

One day while running to meet Riku, he had found the most beautiful blue bird a few feet from their tree house. The fragile thing must have fallen and broken his wing. Sora could see it struggling, straining its wings and crying in pain, but Sora could tell from the odd angles the wings were bent that it couldn't fly.

"I'll fix you," the brunette had promised the bird before carrying it home.

And he did by demanding that his mother let him keep the bird — at least until the bird could fly on his own.

"I'll be your wings," Sora had said, "for the time being."

Oh, how desperately Sora wished he could be Roxas's wings.

Without realizing it, Sora had dropped to his hands and knees to the floor and crawled closer to the blond. "There, there," he whispered, pulling and cradling the petite shaking frame in his arms. "I'm not going to…" Sora shuttered at the ugly word. To think that he might have… How disgusting! Sora might have been a playboy and a womanizer, but even Sora Leonhart wouldn't sink that low. How could someone ever do that to this poor boy?

"Don't put me through that again," the boy had desperately whispered just moments before. Oh god… Sora would have puked right then and there, but Sora had always prided himself for holding his liquor and… Oh god, was that why Roxas always refused his advances? Sora felt sick, but somehow managed to keep his composure, rubbing his hands in soothing circles across the quivering boy's back.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Sora murmured. "No one's going to hurt you." _Not anymore if I can help it. _

Soras smiled as he felt the other boy's breathing gradual slow and relax under his grip as he continued to rub soothing circles along his back. He continued whispering comforting reassurances as the boy fell heavier and heavier into slumber, unconsciously using Sora's chest as a pillow.

"Yeah, that's it," Sora whispered. His arms and legs were going numb and falling asleep from the pressure of the weight on top of him as well as from sitting in such an awkward position on the cold tiled bathrooms floor for so long. _Ah, I should move him,_ Sora thought, not wanting wake the boy up now that the blond looked so peaceful sleeping — not at all like the terrified wreck that graced his presence earlier.

Yes, moving him would have been the smart thing to do. Lunchtime had long been over and Sora was pretty sure the final bell signaling school dismissal had also gone off. Well, if judging by the rustle of feet and cheers from the students was anything to go by, then Sora was right. The teachers always joked that the end of the school day was when the pupils were always the loudest.

Ah, but Roxas must have been so tired though, Sora thought absently, running his fingers along the blond's soft, silky hair. He had been asleep for the later half of the school day. And Roxy was never this pliant when he was awake. Sora was familiar with the blond's feistiness when turning down his offers. This was a moment of weakness for the blond and Sora relished the fact that he could protect and comfort the other with his body and words.

Sora shuttered, remembering how frightened the boy was when he opened the bathroom door. Spying on and stalking the blond for the past weeks, Sora knew what a nuisance hiding from the school had been. Hell, Sora had his own share of stalkers and admirers. But unlike Roxas, he had never tried to avoid them. Sora wasn't sure how the elusive blond had even managed the feat. The student population at Destiny High sure was pesky. And the task must have tired the blond out.

_Oh, Roxy, _Sora thought fondly. _He was really cute. _But Roxas certainly didn't deserve all the trouble he had caused the other teen, Sora thought sadly.

* * *

"_Too bad that you couldn't see, see the man that boy could be  
There is more than meets the eye, I see the soul that is inside."_

-_ Sk8er Boy _by Avril Lavigne

* * *

For Cloud, he had felt a sense of déjà vu when he received that phone call from Zexion.

"What do you mean Roxas never showed up to skating practice?" he had screamed into the phone in response. "Where else could the boy be?" Roxas always went to skating practice right after school ended. Always.

"I don't know, Cloud-san," the figure skating instructor had replied. "That's why I called. I was hoping you would know where he would be."

It felt like a sense of déjà vu when Zexion's words washed over him — like history was repeating itself and Cloud could do nothing to stop it. It felt too similar to that day months ago, when Cloud had almost lost Roxas for the first time. And Cloud couldn't lose Roxas again. Roxas was his world.

Ever since his wife, Aerith, and best friend, Zack, had died — both from a car crash caused by a drunken driver (Zack was driving Aerith home to Cloud when it happened), Roxas was who Cloud lived and breathed for.

When both Aerith and Zack died, Cloud had lost his footing, but Roxas had saved him from constant misery. Aerith had left Cloud a gift and Cloud intended to love and cherish him.

So the proud father devoted all his time to Roxas and his figure-skating. Cloud spent his time driving Rox to competitions and supporting him and his decisions no matter what. Cloud cared and worried and fussed over the boy. Cloud nurtured him and raised him as a single father. Cloud loved him.

And now…

"Find him, Zex," he said, hating how his voice cracked in his desperation. "You've got to find him…" _Roxas is all I have left. _

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